above water. You may think we looked upon the champion with no
little pleasure as she peacefully lay in the channel, with steam up,
waiting for the appearance of its powerful adversary, which never came.
(The _Merrimac_ was so badly damaged in the encounter, its commander,
Jones, blew her up sooner than see her in the enemy's hands.) The masts
of the ill-fated _Cumberland_ and her consorts were plainly visible in
the distance, where they sank with their brave tars standing nobly by
their guns.

I am afraid the editor of the MAGAZINE will get impatient with my
description before coming to the Ninth. The writer goes into these
particulars because another generation has come on the scene since they
happened, and it may interest them.

After landing with my detachment of twenty-two men, we turned our faces
landward to find the army then moving towards Richmond. On the way we
passed through the village of Hampton, and subsequently were much
interested in looking over the battlefield of Big Bethel, where Magruder
made his first fight on the Peninsula, not long previous, and where the
Union troops were roughly handled. Gen. Joseph B. Carr, of Troy, N. Y.,
in command of the Second New York Volunteers, one of the most successful
Irish-American soldiers of the late war, took a prominent part in this
battle. It is thought he would have retrieved the blunders of some of
the Union officers, if he had not been ordered to retire by Gen. B. F.
Butler, who was in command. Gen. Carr is now serving out his third
successive term as Secretary of State of New York. He recently ran for
Lieutenant Governor on the Republican ticket; and although he failed to
get elected, he ran nearly nine thousand votes ahead of his ticket. The
rebel field works were just as they left them. The neighboring forests
told the story of the desperate conflict by the manner in which they
were torn from the effects of the artillery.

It was a long and tedious journey before we struck the army of "Little
Mac;" and when the shades of night began to envelope us, the little
squad was footsore, tired and hungry, having covered twenty-four miles
since leaving the steamer. To add to our inconvenience, we had eaten
nothing since leaving the vessel, and then a limited supply of "hard
tack," washed down with coffee. The location of Meagher's Brigade was
among the uncertainties. All our inquiries of troops in the vicinity
were fruitless.

Learning from the men of a battery